On 2008-10-22 12:24:43 +0100, Neil Williams said:

On 22 Oct, 08:59, The Real Doctor wrote:

Is there any reason at all, except incompetence, why British railways
could not do the same?

German stations usually have more platforms than UK ones - but Euston
is a bit of an exception, as it could quite happily work with fewer
than the 17 it has.

Notably, the commuter operation practically never has platform
alterations, and the diagrammed platforms are displayed well in
advance. This allows one to go to the platform at leisure and spread
along it ready for the train to arrive. Far better.

Neil

For the last three years I have lived and worked in Munich and I can
confirm that the number of platforms available in the Hauptbahnhof (the
2 'wing' stations as well as the main hall) means that long distance
trains are ready for boarding for up to 30 minutes before departure.
(Apart from, of course, those that work to and from Salzburg and
reverse in the Hbf). At Muenchen-Pasing however there is one island
platform for the trains to and from both the Garmisch-Partenkirchen /
Innsbrück and to Buchloe / Kempten / Oberstdorf routes. Any delay and
trains have to be switched around - as this is an island the change is
not difficult, but you should listen to the complaints!

At Paddington in the peaks, because of the limited number of platforms
the longer distance trains have to turn round in about 15 to 25
minutes, or less if an arriving train is delayed. Effectively only
platforms 1 to 10 are available of which 6 and 7 are reserved for the
Heathrow Express, i.e. there are only 8 usable platforms. Muenchen Hbf
has more than 3 times as many.

So to reach German levels of boarding time the number of trains leaving
any platform in a given period has to be reduced. However to maintain
the same capacity, some other work has to be done. Either:

a) the trains, and therefore the platforms, have to be lengthened -
possibly also further down the line
b) if the trains are not lengthened then the number of platforms has to
be increased. As the station and its roof is listed this means that
station can only be widened.

However the simplest solution to increase dwell times to reduce the
number of trains and do nothing else - if ticket prices have to be
increased to match demand and supply then this is also the most
economic.

If (a) or (b) is selected, then someone (i.e., I and my fellow
taxpayers) will have to fork out serious money.

I'll chose the scramble for the trains...

By the way - Network Rail manages Paddington, not fGW. Complaints,
please, to the correct address.
--
Robert